John Henry McBryde
Judge McBryde no longer hears cases. This profile is preserved as a historical record of how they ruled.
How Judge McBryde decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
He required factual support, not conclusory assertions, before conditionally certifying a collective action.
“Plaintiffs’ allegations fall short of their burden to establish the presence of other ‘similarly situated’ employees.”
He treated plausibility as a meaningful pleading requirement in discrimination cases.
“Plaintiffs allegations about his national origin claim under Title VI are exactly the type of ‘labels and conclusions,’ and ‘the-defendant-unlawfully-harmed-me-accusations,’ which are insufficient to state a claim for relief or survive a motion to dismiss.”
When the sole federal claim disappeared early, he followed the general rule of returning the remaining state issues to state court.
“When, as in this case, the single federal-law claim is eliminated at an early stage of the litigation, the general rule is to dismiss any pendent state-law claims.”
Procedural preferences
He required the removing party to prove the jurisdictional amount and enforced a plaintiff's pleaded damages limitation.
“Having not been persuaded by defendant that the diversity jurisdictional amount exists in this case, the court is ordering the case remanded.”
He would require repleading when a motion and complaint did not clearly frame the claims for decision.
“The legal basis for plaintiffs claims and the nature of the damages claimed by plaintiff are unclear.”
Cautions
A confusing dispositive motion could be denied even when the opposing party failed to respond.
“RAC’s motion is confusing in that it is titled a motion for partial summary judgment, but appears to seek judgment on each of plaintiffs claims against it.”
Failure to join the entity whose conduct was directly at issue defeated the requested foreclosure relief.
“plaintiffs have failed to join it as a defendant.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
The court screened the complaint without a party motion: "The court ORDERS that all claims and causes of action asserted in the above-captioned action by plaintiff, John E. Williams, against defendants, Candletree Apartments and La Primavera Apartments, be, and are hereby, dismissed with prejudice."
“The court ORDERS that defendant RAC’s motion for partial summary judgment be, and is hereby, denied.”
“The court ORDERS that the above-captioned action be, and is hereby, REMANDED to the state court from which it was removed.”
“The court ORDERS that Sabre’s motion to dismiss be, and is hereby, granted, and that all claims and causes of action brought by the Insurers in the above-captioned action be, and are hereby, dismissed.”
“The court ORDERS that plaintiffs’ motion to certify collective action be, and is hereby, denied.”
“The court ORDERS that all claims and causes of action brought by plaintiff, Bryan Patrick Easley, against defendant, University of Texas at Arlington, be, and are hereby, dismissed with prejudice.”
“The court further ORDERS that plaintiffs motion for settlement conference be, and is hereby, denied.”
“The court ORDERS that defendant’s motion for summary judgment be, and is hereby, granted;”
“The court ORDERS that plaintiffs’ motion for notice to potential class members and motion for tolling the statute of limitations be, and are hereby, denied.”
“The court ORDERS that defendant’s motion to dismiss be, and is hereby, granted, and that all federal-law claims asserted by Meroney against Pharia be, and are hereby, dismissed with prejudice, and that all of Meroney’s state-law claims against Pharia be, and are hereby, dismissed without prejudice to their refiling in state court.”
“The court ORDERS that the motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction be, and is hereby, granted, and that all claims and causes of action brought by plaintiff, Kennedy Jones, against defendants, LaHood and United States of America, be, and are hereby, dismissed with prejudice.”
“The court further ORDERS that the motion for summary judgment filed by LaHood be, and is hereby, denied as moot.”
“The court ORDERS that defendants’ motion to dismiss be, and is hereby, granted,”
“The court ORDERS that defendant’s motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction be, and is hereby, denied.”
“The court further ORDERS that defendant’s motion to continue the deposition of plaintiff be, and is hereby, granted, and that defendant’s deadline for taking plaintiffs deposition be, and is hereby, extended until July 12, 2013.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median case duration in the sampled dockets: 162.5 days (N = 8).
Median motion-to-ruling time: 27 days (N = 7).
The eight sampled closed matters include mortgage and foreclosure disputes, employment claims, a contract action, and post-conviction petitions. Their durations describe this bounded sample rather than McBryde's full career docket.
A historical record
Judge McBryde no longer hears cases. This profile stays available as a record of how they ruled. If you're preparing for a matter, start from the court's current bench.